The Knights were led by senior Tyler Nielsen, who scored 19 points, but it was his back-to-back 3s to open the second half that turned momentum in the Knights’ favor.

“In the first half his shots weren’t falling — none of our shots were falling,” Kamiak head coach Cory West said. “Tyler came through. He’s a senior and he’s a leader. He got it going in the second half and it sparked us.”

The Knights were just 5-for-29 in the first half and 3-for-16 from 3-point range, but still managed to lead by four. The percentage improved in the second half, though not much. Kamiak finished 13-for-52 from the field and 6-for-24 from the outside.

“I get worried anytime shots aren’t falling,” West said. “We don’t normally shoot a lot of threes. This year we haven’t shot as much as we did last year. When teams zone us we get excited because I have a lot of shooters this year, more than I have had in the past. So we will let them loose. When they weren’t falling, I was nervous. It was more, ‘Hey, they’re going to fall, we just need to work the ball around.’”

The difference in the game proved to be turnovers. The young Vikings turned the ball over 26 times to Kamiak’s 11.

Lake Stevens freshman Trey Pavitt led all scorers with 23 points, including three 3s in the second half to keep the Vikings within striking distance.

“He’s tough,” West said. “I just told guys to stay in front of him, but still, he got his. He was going to score regardless. I just told them to try to get stops.”

Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on twitter @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.